Siege of Paris (1429)

The Siege of Paris (3-8 September 1429) was a failed attempt by King Charles VII of France's army to retake the French capital of Paris from the English. The people of Paris supported the English occupiers, and the French siege was lifted.

The people of Paris had been granted more liberty under King Henry V of England's administration than under King Charles VII of France, whom they had nicknamed the "King of Bourges" for his small area of control, and they did not want the Armagnac party to return and take away their liberties. In August 1429, the French commander Joan of Arc took Saint-Denis to the north of Paris, threatening the English-held French capital, and an army of 10,000 French troops laid siege to Paris on 3 September 1429. The Parisians, fearing that the Armagnacs wanted to raze the city to the ground, threw in with the English defenders and made a vigorous defense. The French failed to capture a single gatehouse and suffered extremely heavy casualties, forcing them to abandon their siege. It was not until 1436 that Paris would fall under French control, only after the Burgundians betrayed the city over to their newfound French allies.